Experimentation

It may be showing through the lack of posts and uninspired content from me, but lately I have been in a gaming funk. The avatar is willing, but the brain is tired.

So I came up with a little gaming experiment: I decided to play a little bit of every game I currently have in my 360 library (I would love to add a bunch of my new games, but IGN’s Collection Lists aren’t working). I’m ashamed to admit I actually own multiple games that, up until this past weekend, I hadn’t even played. Ever.

Having finished Splinter Cell: Conviction, I wanted to hold an audition to see what game grabbed my attention. What would I play next? Yes, I am very close to finishing Mass Effect 2, and I will be finishing that, but I also want to get back to some other games I had previously started. Or maybe find a hidden gem I hadn’t started yet.

I noticed that after I had made it through the stack that three or four games rose to the top. First and foremost, I couldn’t stop thinking of how much I wanted to get back to playing Borderlands. I don’t know if it was the little numbers bouncing out of the bad guys as I shot them in the face or if it was the never-ending lootfest, but I want to play it and never stop. The other game I wanted to play more of was the Mercenaries side-game (it doesn’t feel right to call it a mini-game) of Resident Evil 5. I am an unabashed Mercenaries lover.

Of the games I hadn’t previously played, I was most taken in by Half Life 2 (of the Orange Box) and Dead Space. It’s a shame it’s taken me this long actually get around to these games, they both seem like they are going to be fun. I was even surprised to find a lot of people playing Team Fortress 2 on the 360, as I previously thought it was dead there.

I know there are a lot of new games I could be playing right now, including crowd favorite Red Dead Redemption. And I will make my way through that game. Plus, there are a few games in the near future I’ll be sinking my teeth into. But for now, I’ve got quite the collection sitting in front of me, waiting to be played.

It’s not that I don’t like RDR or want to play it, but I also want to clear this mighty backlog of mine a bit so working on Alan Wake and Valkyria Chronicles seems like a more realistic investment of my time as far as actually having a chance to finish things in under 40 hours 🙂

I know, I know. I played the first twenty minutes of HL2 when I first got the Orange Box but never made it further than the apartment. This time I actually made it to the point that I got the crowbar. Now I’m invested.

Okay, I just have to ask: how many of these (roughly) have you finished? And by finished, I mean having completed the single player portion of the game. There’s some 300-odd games there, and I have a hard time wrapping my head around anyone completing even 75% of these… maybe less.

Just insanely curious as to how you set aside time each day or week to mow through all these games.

Well, that certainly would have been a Wall of Awesomeness if it was. 🙂

Coincidentally, I’m curious… how many games do you guys finish in a year (and by “finish” I mean play through the single-player campaign and maybe put a couple hours into multiplayer). While my collection isn’t nearly as large as the photo (Thank God), I find myself struggling to keep up with all the games I’ve bought. Just curious to see how many games you buy vs. finish… and does the disparity bother you?

[…] Effect 2, I felt liberated and wanted to get to some new games. Funny thing is, I really wanted to get back to Borderlands. So I talked a couple friends into trying out the game themselves and the three of us have been […]